General Petraeus is not expected to have any problem winning Senate confirmation to become the top commander in Afghanistan — he’s been overseeing the war all along as commander in chief of the regional Central Command. But today’s hearing before the Armed Services Committee could examine exactly what will happen in Afghanistan next summer, when President Obama has said troops in the region will start to come home.

As The Times’s Peter Baker notes, the president has been a bit vague on the July 2011 timeline, “sticking by his commitment to begin pulling out while insisting that it does not mean simply walking away.” Officials in the military, meanwhile, have been less than happy with the approach, saying it tells Afghans that United States forces aren’t in it for the long haul. On the other side of the spectrum, many Democrats on Capitol Hill are looking for what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called a “serious drawdown.”

The Washington Post’s Perry Bacon Jr. examines the House debate over a spending bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which the Pentagon says needs to be approved this week. A group of 30 mostly Democratic lawmakers asked Ms. Pelosi to delay the vote after the release of the Rolling Stone article that led to the departure of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, while other Democrats have grumbled about ponying up more dollars for the war while domestic initiatives remain stalled. Even so, as Mr. Bacon reports, the war funds are likely to pass.

Elsewhere, Judiciary Committee members will actually question Ms. Kagan on Tuesday, the second day of her confirmation hearings. As The Times’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg recounts, Republicans and Democrats on the panel painted “radically different pictures” of the former Harvard Law School dean on Monday, with Republicans branding Ms. Kagan judicially inexperienced and a political operative.

In addition to their praise for the nominee, Democrats also signaled that they would try to make what they consider the wayward direction of the court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. a large part of the hearings, The Washington Post’s Alec MacGillis and Amy Goldstein report. For her part, Ms. Kagan said on the first day of her hearings that she would employ a modest approach to judging if confirmed.

Following Byrd: As The Times’s Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny report, Senator Robert C. Byrd‘s death may threaten Senate Democrats’ ability to pass the regulatory reform legislation hammered out at a conference between Senate and House negotiators. Democrats now need to keep the support of three Republicans and tamp down opposition within their own caucus, Mr. Hulse and Mr. Zeleny find.

As for replacing Mr. Byrd, Gov. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat, looks like he can appoint an interim successor who would serve until the November 2012 elections. With that in mind, Politico’s Shira Toeplitz takes a look at whom the governor — who is thought to be considering a 2012 run for the seat — might turn to.

Midterm Madness: Out in Nevada, Sharron Angle, the Tea Party-backed Republican trying to take out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this November, has done her best to limit her encounters with much of the local news media — perhaps trying to avoid the heat that another Tea Party favorite, Rand Paul, took after winning the Republican Senate nomination in Kentucky. As The Times’s Brian Stelter reports, Ms. Angle’s reticence has sparked some aggressive moves from reporters — and exposed a fault line in political journalism caused in part by fewer journalists and more alternative ways of communication, like Facebook and talk radio.

Meanwile, according to The Times’s Adam Liptak, many practical implications of the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling on Monday are yet to be figured out. But as Politico’s Kasie Hunt reports, there does seem to have been a practical upshot for Democratic candidates nationwide, who might have seen the gun issue neutralized for the coming general election.

The Blago Trial: The Times’s Monica Davey recounts some takeaways from the corruption trial of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, including “that Mr. Blagojevich devoted so much time to ‘war-gaming’ whom he might pick for Mr. Obama’s seat that one might reasonably wonder whether there was time to manage any other state business.”

Russian Espionage: The Times’s Scott Shane and Charlie Savage pull back the curtain a bit on the multiyear F.B.I. investigation into Russian attempts to infiltrate American “policy making circles.”

Administration Daybook: On Tuesday morning, Mr. Obama is scheduled to sit down with roughly two dozen senators from both sides of the aisle to discuss getting an energy bill passed this year. Later, he has a working lunch and meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. And finally, the president gets together with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Meanwhile, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. makes his first trip to the Gulf Coast since the oil spill, visiting both New Orleans and Pensacola, Fla.